Here’s One L.A.-Area Team We’d Never Let Get Away

The NFL playoffs start today.

How would L.A.’s team do?

Pretty well, but we’d like it better if we could go with the Troy Aikman of a few years ago and Jamal Anderson before he blew out his knee.

On the other hand, with this offensive line, Aikman probably could play another season.

It’s been seven years since a Los Angeles team was in the playoffs.

That’s right: The Rams and Raiders left after the 1994 season, but the last playoff appearance was by the 1993 Raiders.

With no team of our own, we offer a team we can at least call our own--a 2000 all-star team of players with area connections.

They’ll have to be good. Every game is on the road.

OFFENSE

WIDE RECEIVERS

Keyshawn Johnson, Tampa Bay (Dorsey High, USC). So he hasn’t exactly been the wind in the Buccaneers’ sails. He’s in the playoffs and the New York Jets aren’t. The final numbers: 71 receptions for 874 yards and eight touchdowns.

Az-Zahir Hakim, St. Louis (Fairfax High). Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt catch more passes. But the quick and darting Hakim, who played at San Diego State, is plenty dangerous with 53 receptions for a 13.8 average and four touchdowns, one for 80 yards.

Johnnie Morton, Detroit (South Torrance High, USC). Morton will be the calming influence on this receiving corps. (Yes, Team L.A. will use a lot of three-receiver sets.)

LINE

Tony Boselli, Jacksonville (USC). It was a trying year for Jacksonville’s banged-up offensive line, but Boselli made the Pro Bowl like clockwork, even though he was coming off knee surgery.

Larry Allen, Dallas (Compton Centennial High). He played at Centennial only his freshman season, but we make the rules here. Allen is one of the best guards in the game and before long might be the Cowboys’ best player.

Bruce Matthews, Tennessee (Arcadia High, USC). This team needs a center, and Matthews, a versatile Pro Bowl guard--and goodness knows, an endurable one--can pitch in and help.

Jonathan Ogden, Baltimore (UCLA). They already showed him the money. Now the Ravens are going to show Ogden the playoffs.

Todd Steussie, Minnesota (Agoura High). Randall McDaniel and Jeff Christy went to Tampa Bay but Steussie and the Viking offensive line didn’t miss a beat, helping Robert Smith take the NFL rushing lead for a while.

TIGHT END

Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City (Huntington Beach High). The best in the game. His 93 receptions ranked him 10th among all NFL players. More amazing, he set an NFL record for tight ends with six 100-yard games in a season.

QUARTERBACK

Steve Beuerlein, Carolina (Anaheim Servite High). Once, picking a quarterback from Southern California was difficult because there were so many good ones.

Now Beuerlein gets the nod over Buffalo’s Rob Johnson because Beuerlein had a great year last year--and because he started all 16 games, even though he was sacked an incredible 62 times, a baker’s dozen more than the battered Johnson.

Johnson, who played at El Toro High and USC, started only 11 and finished weakly, with passer ratings in the 40s in his final two games. His considerable talents might bloom in a sunnier and less hostile climate. Like ours.

RUNNING BACK

Mike Anderson, Denver (Camp Pendleton). Usually, this would be a choice between Jamal Anderson from Woodland Hills El Camino Real and Terrell Davis, who played briefly at Long Beach State. But with both less than themselves this season, we’ll invade Camp Pendleton, where Anderson rediscovered football after enlisting in the Marines before going on to San Jacinto College and Utah.

He is the NFL’s fourth-leading rusher as a rookie, with 1,500 yards, a 5.1 average and 15 touchdowns. We salute him.

DEFENSE

LINE

Marcellus Wiley, Buffalo (St. Monica High). The Bills needed someone to pick up the slack after Bruce Smith left. Wiley did, finishing with 10 1/2 sacks in his fourth NFL season. Don’t remember him in college? That’s because he went Ivy League, choosing Columbia, presumably because it was close to the beach.

Darrell Russell, Oakland (USC). He was off his Pro Bowl form, finishing with three sacks and a fumble recovery after a 9 1/2-sack season last year, but he improved at times--and there are still the playoffs.

Willie McGinest, New England (Long Beach Poly, USC). It wasn’t a good year to be a Patriot, but McGinest finished with six sacks.

Duane Clemons, Kansas City (Riverside John W. North). Clemons, who played at Cal, had 7 1/2 sacks for the Chiefs.

LINEBACKERS

Junior Seau, San Diego (USC). The Chargers would have become a bigger laughingstock if not for the dignity and professionalism of Seau.

Donnie Edwards, Kansas City (UCLA). His 132 tackles led the Chiefs, and another former Bruin, Marvcus Patton, was second with 111.

Chad Brown, Seattle (Pasadena Muir). Brown, who played at Colorado, had six sacks among his 93 tackles, and recovered three fumbles.

CORNERBACKS

Jason Sehorn, New York Giants (USC). Knee injuries, broken bones--every year it’s something else for Sehorn, but now he has returned and his rewards are home-field advantage and his engagement to Angie Harmon.

Chris McAlister, Baltimore (Pasadena High). Somebody from the Raven defense that set an NFL record for fewest points in a 16-game season should be on this team. McAlister, a big corner who played at Arizona, had four interceptions and returned one 98 yards for a touchdown against the Jets.

SAFETIES

Sammy Knight, New Orleans (Riverside Rubidoux, USC). He has picked off five passes and scored two touchdowns. He also has 101 tackles and two sacks for the defense that has brought the Saints out of the dump and into the playoffs.

Shaun Williams, New York Giants (UCLA). Williams has three interceptions and a fumble recovery and made 94 tackles, not including the hit on Jacksonville’s Jimmy Smith that knocked the ball loose and Smith out of the game.

SPECIALISTS

KICKER

Brad Daluiso, Giants (UCLA). No Trojans need apply.

PUNTER

Hello, San Diego? Can we borrow Darren Bennett?

KICK RETURNER

Hakim. He averages 15.3 yards on punt returns and brought one back 86 yards for a touchdown.

COACH

Jim Fassel, New York Giants (Anaheim High, Fullerton College, USC, Long Beach State). There are outstanding candidates, considering the years Tennessee Coach Jeff Fisher (Taft High, USC) and Philadelphia Coach Andy Reid (John Marshall High) had. Fassel wins it for making a guarantee that took him from the firing line to within two home victories of the Super Bowl.